Another BIG event going on this week in the M365 world: M365 Conference 2023 in Las Vegas. It’s a 3rd party conference, though heavily invested and involved with by Microsoft by way of speakers, keynotes, sponsorship and other content. Lots of big announcements.
But not everyone can attend.
Not everyone can get there. Not everyone *wants to* attend or go to Vegas. And with a looming recession and/or economic outlook for many organizations, it might not be a great time to send folks to out of state costly conferences.
Now, I’m not trying to poo-poo these big events. They’ve got a ton of value. I speak at some of them. They’re a fantastic opportunity to step away from your day-to-day responsibilities (if you can…) meet with community (topic-wise, not geographic community) folks, spend time chatting, building broader networks, or meet and connect with Microsoft and vendor contacts. The coverage that larger events offer is also extremely important in that you can see so many sessions, workshops, vendors, and more in one spot. In addition to this week’s event, there are events like 365 EduCon that offer options in more cities throughout the year.
What I am saying is that local – usually community-run – events have a place, an important one – for many folks.
Community events like our M365TwinCities event (working on a Fall date…), the upcoming MN M365 User Group Spring Workshop, or even frequent M365TC #CoffeeCrew events fill important gaps in our communities. In upcoming weeks here in Minnesota we’ll be reviewing this week’s big announcements from Microsoft, offering more in depth coverage with workshop sessions, or just having a coffee and connecting with others. Similar groups will be meeting all over the US and the world doing the same thing.
SO. Get familiar with your local community. Join it. Take part in it. Contribute to it with your time and experience. And if there’s not a community you’re looking for – consider building one!
The posts I’m writing about community events are my opinions. Just one opinion of many that are out there. Heck, it’s just one opinion on my team – ask Sarah or Tamara what they think. These are not “Do it this way or you’re wrong” posts. I’m attempting to give my perspective for folks to hopefully glean something useful from when considering, or running, your own events. You should also seek other opinions. đ
Understand your own context… your community. When considering hosting an event, do your best to understand the context you’re working in. That context is going to include things like the communities you’re a part of, the technology you’re working with, the organizations that are a part of the area you’re in, and the organizational cultures you’re working with as well.
My Context
I’m a consultant that’s worked with consulting firms of all sizes and as an independent. Before that I worked for a large retail organization where I had my first exposure to SharePoint. I’ve been working with SharePoint, Lists, M365, Teams, the Power Platform, and a lot of the rest of the Microsoft tools since then – almost 20 yrs. I’ve been a Microsoft MVP since 2009. I’ve been speaking at and organizing user groups and community events throughout that time.
I’m not trying to toot my own horn. I merely want to establish that I’ve got some background in this stuff.
I’m in the Twin Cities – Minneapolis, St. Paul – Minnesota. Our metro area is home to a large and healthy Fortune 500 community of organizations in addition to the largest private company in the US. There’s also a significant representation of government organizations from the state, county, and city levels. All of these public, private, and governmental organizations use the Microsoft suite.
The Twin Cities is also home to a number of user-driven groups around technology. User groups, meetups, consulting company-driven groups, Microsoft-driven events, and community events like our M365TC group. Lots to choose from and enough where we’ve got a track record that attendees can count on and are comfortable attending.
Our Event – M365 Twin Cities
Our event has been an all-day Saturday event – in the style of SharePoint Saturday – now Community Days – events. We generally run two events per year – in the Spring and Fall. Part of our context in Minnesota is weather – so as mentioned in the Pick a Date post – we don’t (usually) mess with Winter scheduling or compete with Summer scheduling. Winter does still like to mess with us – even with Spring and Fall events… Our event usually draws 300-400 attendees – which is larger than most SPS-like events.
We’ve been able to keep it free to attendees so far with company sponsorships covering event costs.
You can see more details about the most recent event in our recap post.
All in all, it’s a relatively fantastic environment – and context – to run successful events in. We’ve got an eager and interested audience, a fair number of folks willing and interested in speaking, and a combination of local and national companies willing to invest in events as sponsors.
Why?
Why am I posting about community events?
I love helping folks skill up on technologies, solutions, productivity, and more. Community events are a great (and usually free!) way for folks to learn and grow.
I’ve been part of a group running events for many years and want to help others do the same.
You don’t have to be a long-time participant in a technical community. In fact, we readily welcome and encourage new folks to get involved. It does, however, help if you have spent some time in the community – meeting people, discovering groups, and getting a feel for what works and what doesn’t in your area. That’s where I recommend starting.
Do you have an audience? Can you find it? Can you build it?
Is there an existing group or event you can spin off from? Maybe a slightly different topic or audience where a new event may expand or complement the existing group or event? Most recently we’ve seen Power Platform groups spinning up in areas with thriving M365 groups as one example.
Do you have folks willing to invest time and energy in running an event? Can you find them?
Do you have local companies willing to invest $ in supporting events?
Is there an event you’ve attended that you might model your event/group on? Speak with the event organizer and see if they’d be willing to answer questions, etc. to get you started.
You don’t have to start big. Find a group of peers and start a user group that meets on a monthly basis. There are lots of variations and paths to building communities, groups, and events.
Community Events
Find them. Join them. Create them. Build them.
I’ve listed ours and others below. These are just a sampling.
No. “Direct action” buttons aren’t a new feature or button type. It’s just a term I’ve used in conversations and sessions talking about Power Apps and more often than not SharePoint lists or Microsoft Lists.
The default experiences users see with Lists or wizard-created apps in Power Apps are to act on a record or item as a whole (see image below). This by itself is fine as it accounts for plenty of use cases. However, there are also times where users want to take a specific action on a record. For example, in the case of managing requests, users may want to take ownership of a request, quickly assign a priority, or close a request. These can be accomplished with buttons build specifically for those use cases.
Default list editing
In the default experience, operating on items in a data source (List, or other) the “close request” activity requires both technical knowledge and business knowledge.
The technical knowledge they need looks something like: Find the item, open/edit the item, change the value for the specific field from one value to another, and close/save the item.
The business knowledge users need, at a minimum, is to change *which field* to *which value*.
You’d hope both of these activities would be intuitive, but in many cases they are not. In most cases the process and user experience can be improved – even a little bit. Enter “direct action” buttons.
What does a simple, typical example look like? How about this? In a work request list, setting a request priority with a button click:
Two records with buttons to set each item to “High Priority”.
Logically, the example image probably has its priorities messed up (please rescue the raccoon before mowing the grass), but it illustrates a user wanting to take specific changes to an individual item.
Patch Command
The above items are in a Power Apps gallery. So, the code – in the OnSelect formula for the button might look something like this:
Once you get started down this path, there are so many options for makers to fulfill business needs with these approaches.
Intake lists (a generic term for request lists of all types) often evolve over time. These lists might start simply where “closing” a request is literally changing a status field from “open” to “closed”. As these processes mature, closing a request might turn into something like:
Change a status field to “closed”
Store the name of the person that closed the request (in a field separate from the modifiedby field)
Capture the date/time the request was closed (in a field separate from the modified field)
Send a notification to someone about the ticket closing (send an email, post to a Teams channel, etc.)
While the requirements get more complicated, all of these tasks can still be dealt with using Power Apps formulas or other approaches.
Alternate – JSON
There are ways to create buttons and actions within the List interface using JSON to implement view and column formatting. This is, by some, billed as another “no-code” approach, though it is not in my opinion. It is, however, an approved approach within the platform.
You may have noticed in the image above that the button can show up as enabled or disabled. This is accomplished by setting the DisplayMode formula to something like this:
The formula roughly translates to: If the item is already set to high priority, disable the button. If not, enable the button.
Refresh as needed
I haven’t looked into the details of the mechanics behind how screens and data sources work, but sometimes the screen updates right away after a Patch, other times it doesn’t. So, try the Patch and see if the screen and controls update the way you want. If they do, great! If the data doesn’t update quickly, you could add a Refresh to your button to force the data to refresh.
The “trick” here is that the refresh isn’t of the controls, but of the data source: Refresh(DataSource)
Ramblings
I’ve been trying to figure out why it’s taken me so long to get a post out. It’s not technically challenging. In fact, it’s quite simple from the Power Apps perspective. From an experienced maker or pro-dev perspective, creating buttons is second nature. Power Apps offers plenty of power and flexibility in this department.
I think I just wanted to give enough context for makers to understand that while the concept is simple, the potential and implications can be huge – both in the capabilities makers have and in the improved experience for users. For makers, using something like Patch is a next step after working with the default form and the Save/Cancel options that come with the default experiences offered by Lists and wizard-created Power Apps.
It’s not rocket science. But plenty of folks just haven’t gone here yet. After almost every session where I mention “direct action” buttons, people are super excited about the possibilities. When they figure it out – it opens up so many cool options. Just a small step of growing in the Power Platform.
Note: The Patch function does NOT bypass Microsoft (and SharePoint) Lists updating the Modified date and Modified By fields. These fields do get updated when the Patch function updates anything in the item/record.
M365TC is and organization and event built on the foundation of 10+ years of SharePoint Saturday events. M365TC – like SharePoint Saturdays, SQL Saturdays, and Code Camps, and others – is a free one-day in-person training event put on and supported by the community. Organized by volunteers. Paid for by sponsors. With sessions presented by industry, platform, and community experts in their fields. It’s a ton of great learning potential for you as an individual and for your organization as a whole.
It’s an opportunity for attendees to get free training regardless of organizational budgets. It’s an opportunity for folks to exercise their personal initiative to learn and explore. It’s an opportunity for new speakers to give presenting a try and experienced speakers opportunities to share their knowledge. It’s a mentoring opportunity. It’s a touch point for local service providers and broader service and product vendors to connect with local folks as customers and partners. It’s a networking event to connect with peers in the metro and region.
We usually have two events per year – in the Spring and Fall – that support the rapidly changing technology we talk about. If we have a successful January 2023 event, we’ll likely return to that cadence starting in the Fall of 2023.
Sponsors in progress (Please spread the word to help support the event!)
Why M365?
“M365” is a shift from “SharePoint” as the Microsoft ecosystem shifted, morphed, and expanded. Our SharePoint Saturday events had SharePoint at the center but covered plenty of tangential topics where technology and skill integrations happened. Now, under the M365 umbrella, SharePoint is still a foundational piece but is complemented by a suite of related products and platforms – led now by Teams and working along other areas such as the Power Platform and Azure to name just a few. “M365” provides for the broader scope required to attract attendees, speakers, and sponsors.
Our event here in Minnesota has historically been one of the larger events in the country, though the pandemic took a bite out of our momentum. It’ll take a little time to work back to the events we’ve had in the past – assuming the community still demands them. So please let us know if you are interested in what we’re doing by registering to attend, by spreading the word to co-workers and peers, by letting your organizational leadership and vendors know that we need sponsors to put these events on.
There are a number of use cases for having visibility to one or more calendars in SharePoint intranet pages â calendars or events lists where a small groups of folks maintain the list of events and a large group consumes the info.
What are the recommendation on how to achieve this?
Calendars in an intranet. Thatâs the main detail being considered here. How big of a deal is it?
(No really, Iâm curious, please let me know in the comments.)
Initial Thoughts and Letdowns
When it comes to the data, Outlook or Exchange handle dates and events best. However, the only surfacing of data between Exchange and SharePoint is the Group Calendar web part. Group Calendars allow everyone to see it, but also allow anyone to add, edit, and delete from the calendar. Not what we want.
SharePoint has historically had an Events list, that also does a good job of managing events â including All-day and Recurring event capabilities. A SharePoint list has list permissions that allow it to be configured with certain editors and certain viewers. However, the only way to surface the calendar view of this list is using a âclassic experienceâ with the functionality we want but with a very dated interface that not only clashes with SharePointâs modern look, but is only available on a modern page by embedding the view using an iframe. No web part available.
When using the ânew experienceâ of the Events list, there is a new Calendar view type.
While this calendar looks great in the modern page, it currently seems to be buggy, does not carry through useful features of the classic view like overlays, has issues with filtering items, and does not currently work with the List View web part (but can be displayed with an iframe embed similar to the classic view). Some of these issues may be resolved with a reported update rolling out âsoonâ (September CY2021).
NOTE: The calendar view for modern lists isn’t just for event-like lists (which is what this post is focused on). The view can be used for *any* list type with a date column and in many cases is a really nice stop forward for those lists.
A bigger problem with the new experience and the Events list is that when using the new experience the All-day and recurring capabilities are broken. These properties and functionality do not show up in forms, though the fields still exist in the list. To make matters more confusing, while in the new experience, click âNewâ and get the New item form. The form does not show the All Day Event or Recurrence fields, but if you edit the form, both fields are listed and checked as if they should be visible. Not cool for users or power usersâŚ
My guess is that this may be happening because of the integration of Microsoft Lists with the SharePoint interface and that Microsoft Lists do not seem to be able to handle these features either â creating a bit of an inconsistency in the interface. If you create a Microsoft List, you can create Start Date and End Date columns and align them with the new Calendar view, but there doesnât seem to be a capacity to handle other date/event specific functionality that was available with the classic Events list.
SharePoint does also offer a Events web part, which attaches to the Events list. Rather than displaying in a traditional calendar view, the web part offers two different âtileâ views â following that little UX trend. While it may be a change for users, the web parts are a nice offering and definitely has its place within the intranet, highlighting upcoming events rather than leaving users to sort through a calendar view. Clicking on events also leads to a few special pages: Events.aspx and Event.aspx that are clean and easy to read. They also DO respect the event All-day and recurrence feature â which is good, but inconsistent with the modern calendar view mentioned above.
With that, Events appear to be at a bit of a crossroads â with some messy collisions – between classic and new/modern functionality that I hope Microsoft will clean up soon.
Conclusion for now
For now, the best solution seems to be continuing to use the Events list as long as it is available, adding the Events web part to the toolbox (previously only used calendar views), and embedding a calendar view until an updated List View web part comes along. It seems like there are a few âbroken windowsâ here that I hope Microsoft repairs soon. A functional calendar view web part will take a nice step or two forward. Knowing what the plans are for Microsoft List support for events would also be nice.
Am I missing some critical feature or capability that solves these needs? Does the enterprise have have these calendar/event requirements?
What are you using in your intranet?
Questions
What is the Microsoft roadmap for Events going forward?
Events lists are shown as âClassicâ features.
Will they continue to be supported?
Is there a timeline for support, replacement, or deprecation?
Will events be supported in Microsoft Lists?
You can create a list with start date and end dates, but no âRecurrenceâ or âAll Dayâ functionality.
SPS Events, the organization behind many SharePoint Saturdays, is coming to an end
The events, however, will continue â as âSharePoint Saturdaysâ or under new and evolving names (like ours, see below)
Details
Last week – Friday August 20th, 2021 â the SPS Events crew posted announcements on their Facebook page and web site that the SPS Events entity as we know it will be shutting down this coming Fall. Check out the details here:
This is certainly the end of an era â the end of an amazing legacy built and managed by awesome people. Eric Harlan, Susan Lennon, and a ton of folks and organizations behind and alongside them created a community like no other.
SPS Events did a LOT, but two things for me stood out:
They maintained a âmaster scheduleâ for our community of events. This was, and is, hugely important and useful. It helped with visibility to folks in a city, in a region, in a geography to find local events. It helped speakers and vendors with locating events outside of their usual regions. It also helped prevent overlaps and confusion in some cases. All of this was good for the community. Iâm not sure where this master schedule will be maintained going forward. With SPS events alone this was a pretty big list. Now with SharePoint Saturdays evolving (as we are) to different names, to physical events, virtual events, hybrid events, etc. it seems like a challenge without an owner at the moment.
They also provided a platform, a framework, and support for new and smaller events to get a foothold when they needed it. This is such an important part of our community. Helping new folks, new speakers, new organizers, etc. across the board where and when we can is a cornerstone of what we do. Iâve never seen it in any community â technical or otherwise â as much as I have in our SharePoint, Office, Microsoft community.
There will likely be a lot of chatter and reminiscing about SPS Events this week. A lot of us have âgrown upâ through this community, found our paths, built careers, and so much more. A huge thanks to Eric, Susan, and all who have been and continue to be a part of this community. I count myself lucky to be a small part of it in our little corner of the world.
SPSTC â> M365TC
Weâve already had folks reach out and want to get ahead of the rest of it⌠We arenât going away. Our local organization here in the Twin Cities, Minnesota, the Upper Midwest â is still here. As we mentioned a few months ago, weâre in the midst of renaming and rebranding. That rebranding effort will continue and we do plan on returning to events as youâve known them as soon as is practical with the pandemic and all the repercussions of it.
Latest on events
Iâve been holding out hope for a Fall/Winter event in 2021, but between COVIDâs Delta variant and venue limitations, an event similar to what we normally do twice a year is not looking likely this year. Normandale is closed to events through 2021. My interpretation of this is that we will look to early 2022 for a bigger event â with all the usual âit dependsâ that comes with pandemic details. We might look at doing some smaller events in the meantime, but that is very TBD.
With the ongoing COVID situation we had to cancel our Spring SharePoint Saturday event scheduled for tomorrow 5/30 (we did this a while ago). Today I’m bummed – seeing calendar reminders for when we would have been setting up for the event and having our speaker dinner tonight – with the actual event and follow-up events tomorrow and tomorrow night.
It’s unfortunate and sad that we won’t be hosting speakers, sponsors, attendees and friends here in the Twin Cities today and tomorrow. I and others are missing our friends at a time we could really use those visits and quality time with the community we’re all a part of.
Stay safe! We’re looking forward to seeing you all again soon!
The SharePoint Conference is the premier SharePoint and Office365 content event – held in Las Vegas, NV May 19-21 and will include a TON of awesome speakers, sessions, workshops, and vendors. Itâs the largest SharePoint conference around and a unique opportunity to visit with Microsoft folks that are building the software tools we use every day. Itâs also typically an event where Microsoft makes major announcements on new features, new products, and more! Not only do you get the opportunity to hear those announcements first-hand, you can chat with Microsoft product team members to dig into details and provide your feedback.
The Session
This 60-minute session will dig in deeper than my 20-minute session on â7 Quick Winsâ. Iâll be talking about opportunities within SharePoint and Microsoft Teams where extending the content, solutions, and interfaces with Power Apps enables users to be more productive and utilize more of the tools available to them in the workplace.
Why am I talking about this topic?
For years weâve had SharePoint around and organizations have found varying degrees of success. In many ways their success depended on how invested they were with the platforms â how far adoption went in both breadth and depth. Some teams used document libraries instead of file shares, but never made use of things like metadata or views. Some organizations dug into SharePoint lists, built solutions, and took a few organizational steps forward, but rarely were platforms embraced holistically within organizations. Now, we have Microsoft Teams â which arguably is taking on the mantle of the monarch of the collaboration space. For organizations embracing Microsoft Teams it is becoming the one-stop-shop for where to work, where to find critical info or a path to other systems that maintain important information or functionality. One thing thatâs been consistent is that there has almost always been a lot of functionality, capability, and ROI left on the table. This session is addressing some of that technical debt â helping people understand what capabilities are available or how those capabilities can be implemented for business benefit and ROI. In most cases that ROI comes from employee time, but it can easily extend into things like preventing or managing expenses or even preventing regulatory lapses or fines.
What will be covered in this session?
The Power Platform â Power BI, Power Automate (aka âFlow), Power Apps, and Power Virtual Agents all have a lot to offer, but this session will focus on what Power Apps brings to the collaboration space. From my perspective that means access to information â visibility or accessibility to information â getting the information from whatever source (weâll be talking mostly about SharePoint list data) to whoever needs the data, in the form that they can best consume the data, and on the platform that makes the most sense.
We can use Power Apps to build better SharePoint list forms
We can build Power Apps using SharePoint libraries or lists as data sources, building better user experiences, connecting to additional data sources, and still surface the solution in SharePoint
We can take SharePoint data solutions with Power Apps to the Microsoft Teams surface
We can take data mobile with Power Apps
With SharePoint weâve been building single-page and multi-page solutions for a long time by stitching together the out of the box list interfaces and SharePoint pages and then extending them by customizing views, forms, and other controls. When Power Apps was first integrated into the SharePoint and O365 space it was pitched as all about forms â something weâd been wanting and needing for years. That scenario is still valid and relevant â finally allowing list owners to build interfaces within the SharePoint context. As SharePoint itself continues to evolve, both form and view solutions enter a bit of a gray area as SharePoint features start to overlap with capabilities that Power Apps also offer. Power Apps allows us to build apps, using one or more lists (or other data sources) and continuing to present those solutions via SharePoint pages, though Power Apps can also be used directly in the browser as well. Those same apps are also available via mobile devices in either phone or tablet layouts.
With the addition of Microsoft Teams to our suite of choices, we have another surface to make apps and solutions available. Tabs within Teams allow both surfacing of SharePoint lists and Power Apps. Power Apps are, in fact, easier to add to a Team than they are to a SharePoint page (though neither are difficult).
The short story is that our toolbox as consumers of business data and builders of business solutions continues to expand within the Microsoft Office space by using Power Platform tools like Power Apps and its partner technologies.
Session Abstract
As SharePoint team sites move to Team sites, mobile workers demand solutions, and makers run into the limitations of lists, organizations look to Power Apps to deliver added value and capabilities to both traditional and emerging collaboration platforms. Explore approaches and strategies for Power Apps with SharePoint and Teams.
Still working in the cross section of Power Apps and other tools and platforms we’ve been working with in the collaboration space⌠SharePoint, Teams, O365
OK. Apparently I need to re-up my blog game as last yearâs âconference scheduleâ post is only a few posts down on my site. It is time to get things ramped up again with a bunch of conferences to attend and present at, with lots of news and platform changes, and tons of great information out there. So hereâs whatâs coming up so far:
This is PAIT Group and Microsoft MVP Mark Rackleyâs event. He does a fantastic job pulling together a multi-day workshop and conference event down in Branson that includes over 60 speakers including Microsoft folks, MVPs and MCMs. If youâre from the upper Midwest, this is a drivable event and one that in addition to all the great content and networking, gives those of us living in Winter wonderland a taste of the Spring weather to come. If you want a more personal-sized event thatâs not as overwhelming as some larger events but still gets awesome content, speakers, and networking, check it out! Come for the content and networking â and get the weather as a bonus!
Save $50 using coupon code: âPRESTONâ. Registration starts at $100. NEW – Save 50% using coupon code: “SPSTC”Â
SharePoint Fest is a great opportunity for a week of intense training with 2 days of workshops, 3 days of sessions, and lots of opportunities to network with speakers, sponsors, and attendees. We usually see 3 SharePoint Fest events throughout the year and this is the first, with Seattle in late Summer and Chicago in December.
Join us for great Spring event in D.C.! If you do, use the code PRESTON100 when signing up for $100 off your registration.
Iâm just attending this one â no speaking. Iâm really excited to check it out though as this is a conference thatâs been around for a few years and had rave reviews from others in the community. Itâs been in Vegas for a while and just this year is moving to Minneapolis â where one of the founders is from and conveniently is where Iâm also located â so hard to pass up the opportunity to check it out. If youâre an entrepreneur or are thinking about it, make sure to check this out. Theyâre also expanding to more regional events going forward.
Still the premier Microsoft produced and partnered event focused on Office365, SharePoint, and all the tech that extends and supports it. Expect to see big announcements, lots of product team presenters, big names in the community and executives from the Microsoft teams that bring you these great tools.
Use code âPRESTONâ when registering to save $50.
One of the biggest and best SharePoint Saturday events around. Weâve been going for over 10 yrs with over 20 events. Itâs not just about SharePoint anymore. We cover Office365, Microsoft365, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, the Power Platform, Azure, and lots of other platforms and apps that support and extend the O365 space. The last few years weâve been averaging about 400 attendees and have a wonderful collection of sponsors and volunteer speakers from the local area, region, greater US and sometimes international folks. Join us for a wonderful free event!
Just want to keep this on your radar. We wonât have a date until after our Spring event but we will be back for the Fall with lots of info and announcements fresh from Ignite.
The SharePoint Conference is the premier SharePoint and Office365 content event – held in Las Vegas, NV May 19-21 and will include a TON of awesome speakers, sessions, workshops, and vendors. Itâs the largest SharePoint conference around and a unique opportunity to visit with Microsoft folks that are building the software tools we use every day. Itâs also typically an event where Microsoft makes major announcements on new features, new products, and more! Not only do you get the opportunity to hear those announcements first-hand, you can chat with Microsoft product team members to dig into details and provide your feedback.
The Session
This 20-minute session will highlight and some quick wins, as examples or demos, that you can walk away with and use in your own environments. The plan is to show 7 scenarios, on a fairly quick pace with an average of a little more than 2 minutes per example. Donât worry though, Iâll stick around after the session for any questions and follow-up the session with posts walking through examples as needed.
Why am I talking about this topic? Iâm covering this material and these concepts because there are a LOT of folks using SharePoint, using Teams, even using Power Apps that havenât seen the capabilities or donât understand the value these platforms provide and how they can be potentially leveraged together. Sometimes, especially in the cases Iâll be highlighting, solutions can provide a lot of business value for relatively little effort and without additional licensing. There are even organizations out there licensed to use these products and not using them because the organizations donât realize what capabilities they have available, how to use them, or what the benefits could be! Unfortunately, some of those folks have features or even whole platforms turned off because theyâre afraid of what users may do or the organization doesnât have the controls or governance in place to let them loose on the organization. This session may might illustrate a few reasons â via business value – why features should be enabled⌠If they see some examples in action maybe a few will take that back home and make a difference.
So what examples are we talking about? There are so many options available and maybe even new scenarios that will pop up between now and the conference, so Iâm holding off on finalizing the top 7 until we get a bit closer. The nature of online platforms and the rapid rate of change gives us new and evolving options all the time. My plan is to stay within the products and licensing covered under Office 365, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, and Power Apps so if youâre already using SharePoint, you wonât need additional licensing to gain the benefits of the examples youâll see.
Quick things I like to make sure folks are familiar with when combining these platforms and potential âwinsâ for the session:
Editing SharePoint forms with Power Apps. You can do lots of really powerful things and leverage the full power of Power Apps, but you can also make the quick and easy form changes that users have been requesting for years. Change the order of fields, change the formatting, add some text or even links to things like help pages, and more!
Take your SharePoint list data to the mobile platform. Yep, list data is available today via the SharePoint mobile app, but there are advantages to using a Power App insteadâŚ
Insert a Power App in Microsoft Teams
Add a Power App to a SharePoint page
Utilize the Power Apps graphing components. Not a replacement for Power BI, but maybe the âgoodâ in a âGood, Better, Bestâ scale with other graphing options available.
Quick data views with the Data table control
Connecting multiple SharePoint lists for *real* relational dataâŚ
Something with Microsoft Automate integration? Eh⌠maybe, maybe notâŚ
Create âactionâ buttons for your SharePoint list data. Instead of the old: Edit an item, change the status field value, click save steps. Use Power Apps to access and manage data in one (or more!) SharePoint lists and build an interface with buttons that change the status to what you want rather than using the SharePoint list manipulation methods.
Display a map to display an address on a page, form, app. I always thought this was cool.
What do *you* want to see?
Most of the content will be for folks new to Power Apps, but experienced with SharePoint and/or Microsoft Teams. Although new users to SharePoint and Teams will also benefit.
Session Abstract
Quick take-away examples using Power Apps to extend user engagement and data availability with SharePoint, Office365, and Microsoft Teams, and more.
![SPC_SpeakerBanners_PRESTON_thumb[2]_thumb](http://www.idubbs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/SPC_SpeakerBanners_PRESTON_thumb2_thumb.jpg "SPC_SpeakerBanners_PRESTON_thumb[2]_thumb")